The Children of Israel – even the grown-ups amongst them – were like all children, always hungry.

On the way from Egypt to the Promised Land they constantly complained that they had no bread and water and were sick of their situation (Num. 21:5-9).

It didn’t help very much when God made sure they got food, because then they found something else to complain about.

One presumes that God too had His complaints. After all that He had done for the former slaves, you would think that they would at least have said “Thank you” to the Divine Donor.

But maybe that’s human nature, never to be satisfied and rarely willing to be grateful for what they get.

For some people the long Hebrew Grace After Meals is too drawn-out and difficult and they say that all they want is a short version that says enough at a convenient length. (Actually there is a short version, but the odds are that the complainers who don’t like the long version don’t say the short one either.)

One of the things we all have to learn is to feel grateful and say so.

To God – and to other people. Some children have a habit of making a rhyming ditty out of giving their parents some appreciation – “Rub-a-dub-dub, thanks for the grub!” (“the grub” = “the food”).

Two thirds of the world’s population is hungry; those who have food to eat, clothes to wear and a roof over their heads should feel sufficiently grateful to say so in words, to God, to their families, to their community.

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